


When Worlds Collide

by goodstoryfan



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst and Feels, Brotherly Love, Dimension Travel, Identity Reveal, Kidnapping, M/M, Multi, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Re-rewrite, Team as Family, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:00:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23959573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goodstoryfan/pseuds/goodstoryfan
Summary: When Dick turns fourteen, he's captured by Ravagers in front of the team, who are powerless to stop it. It's now seven years later and he's a part of the Guardians of the Galaxy. He's moved on from his life on Terra and is now Nightwing. What happens when his past shows up on Xandar? New version! You can read the old one if you'd like.
Comments: 38
Kudos: 157





	1. Chapter 1

_“I met her in a club down in old Soho_

_Where you drink champagne and it tastes just like cherry-cola”_

_He can’t move and there’s people screaming and he doesn’t know what’s happening. He can’t move, but he’s being sent up and there’s a bright light around him and he can’t see. He can’t see anything._

~

**_Knowhere - 2018_ **

The rays from the early morning sun shines through the window, landing gracefully onto his face. He scrunches his nose, feeling the heat on his face. The bright light seeps through his closed eyelids, waking him more and more each second. He groans, turning over and pressing his face hard against a pillow. Something tickles his face and he opens his eye a fraction to see a faceful of pink hair. Huh? Oh, right. Wait-

He opens his eyes fully and looks at the room around him, filled with things that are **not** his and a few things that make him want to whistle. Ah, shit. He didn’t mean to spend the night. He doesn’t even know where he is on Knowhere- Ha. 

He shakes his head, a small smile on his lips, before he sits up with a groan. That pounding in his head won’t go away for a while. He throws his legs over the bed, spotting his clothes draped over the lamp. He pulls them on quickly, throwing a quick glance over his shoulder to see if they’re still sleeping. He squats next to the bed, gently pushing the hair out of their face. “Hey.” He whispers. He gets a soft groan in response. “I have to go.” 

“Hm?” 

He kisses him softly and the pink-haired Kree blearily looks at him, confused. “That’s a nice wake up call. What-” 

He chuckles, “I have to go. Thanks for last night.” 

The pink-haired Kree whose name might be Glavan? hums, letting his eyes flutter shut. “I probably should be thanking _you_. Hot damn.” 

His laugh is louder this time. “Maybe I’ll see you around.” 

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t you have to go save the galaxy again, Guardian?” His eyes are still closed, but a smirk slowly grows on his face. 

He shakes his head and presses his lips against his once more. “Stay out of trouble.” 

“Never!” Glavan (?) yells out just as he closes the front door behind him. He was nice, funny, cute, but he doesn't think he'll see him again. Rolling his neck before quickly exiting the apartment building, he realizes he’s not too far away from the ship, thank god. He decides to swing by the market on his way back. 

As soon as he steps into the ship, there are people waiting for him, some more irritated than others. 

“Dude, what the hell? You disappeared on us last night.” Peter throws his hands up in frustration. “We didn’t get to see who could drink the most Asgardian ale!” 

Gamora rolls her eyes, “Peter, he’s a grown man. He can do what he wants.” She glances at him, her eyes piercing through him. “Though as a Guardian, you should make your whereabouts known so we know you haven’t been kidnapped. Again.” 

He swallows, setting the bag on the table. He processes her words and scoffs, “I don’t get kidnapped _that_ much.” 

Rocket snorts and Drax looks confused. “You have been kidnapped four times. Is that not a large number on Terra, Nightwing?” 

Dick rolls his eyes, “You know, you’d think you’d be nicer to a person that brought you all breakfast. I even got you Guna jelly.” 

It’s Gamora’s turn to roll her eyes when Peter and Drax start to tear through the breakfast spread. She slaps Peter's hand away to grab a Yaro Root. “Well, hurry up and eat. We got a transmission from Xandar this morning that we are needed as soon as possible.” 

“What do those prissy aholes need now?” Rocket leans back, passing food to Teen Groot, who ignores it to play on the Gameboy Dick gave him. Dick sucks in air through his teeth. That _might_ have been a bad idea. 

“Don’t know.” Peter says, little pieces of food flying out. Gamora wrinkles her nose and glances at Dick, who just shrugs. “Said it was important, couldn't say why.” 

"That is most strange. Why could they not say? Was there something wrong with their mouths?”

“No, Drax. Their mouths are fine. They didn’t specify what was important.” Dick explains. 

“What do you think is so important that they did not discuss it?" Drax asks after he understands. 

Dick looks to Gamora, a sinking feeling in his stomach, and it sinks lower when her face mirrors his. There’s been rumblings about….He shakes his head softly and throws an arm around Drax, “I’m sure it’s nothing, big boy. Probably just some political nonsense.” It has to be. If it isn't....

“Well, let us see.” 

Fuck, he hopes he’s right.


	2. Chapter Two

_He’s being shot up through the air, the trees around him becoming a green blur. He can’t move and he can barely see and he doesn’t know what’s happening anymore. There’s still music going in his ears, but the beat is making him more terrified. He can’t move, there’s so much happening around him-_

_Now he’s falling, but not for long as his back quickly hits something cold, sending a shockwave through him. His fingers brush the unfamiliar metal beneath him and there’s multiple faces hovering above him, staring at him like he’s already dead._

Peter looks over at Dick and notices the weird expression on his face. He nudges him a little. "You okay?"

Dick jolts out of it and nods, “Yeah.” He doesn’t meet his eyes.

Peter gives him a face. He’s been with Dick long enough to know when something is wrong. God, it took Dick so long to open up to Peter. That first year with Yondu was rough. Peter remembers when he found out about Dick, how mad he was that Yondu did it again. He didn't get an explanation for Dick's capture from him ever, but he hopes Yondu is kicking ass in the stars. 

“Just a weird feeling.” Dick shrugs, pressing his mask against his face. “Might be nothing.” 

Peter tenses up, knowing that shit was probably about to go down. Dick’s usually right, even when he doesn’t want to admit it. Fuck, why couldn’t Nova Prime for once be bringing them to Xandar for something cool? An honorary dinner in their honor? Giving them money for their bravery? All of those could work! He doesn’t need this shit in his life. 

When they exit the Milano, Peter makes sure that his blasters are fully charged. As they approach the doors to her office, a feeling low in his stomach starts to grow, knotting itself over and over again. He’s had instincts like this before during jobs, but never like this. This time he wants to grab everyone and run back to the Milano and fly far, far away. Never set foot on Xandar again. 

Peter turns towards his friends, “Hey, maybe, we-” 

“Nova Prime will see you now.” Her guards step out of the way and begin to open the doors. He wonders sometimes if they practice doing that over and over, but now’s not the time for that. What’s more pressing is their _faces_. They’re stoic like usual, but now they also appear to be fighting to sneak a glance inside, like there’s some magnificent treasure inside … or something dangerous.

Nova Prime is standing with her assistants by her side when they enter. Her assistants are in awe too, but there is also some intimidation and cautiousness lurking in their eyes. That's when he notices the group of people that are currently conversing, conversating?, whatever with Nova Prime.

“Holy shit.” 

* * *

Peter steps in front of Dick almost protectively, making Dick roll his eyes. Peter’s such a worry wart sometimes, especially lately since he got hurt a few weeks ago. Makes him go into older brother mode. Well, more like Mother Hen mode. He’s not fourteen anymore, he thinks as he steps to the side, Peter doesn’t need to- 

Oh. 

Suddenly, Dick wants to step behind Peter again.

Hm. 

He’s gotta be hallucinating. There’s no other way. It’s been six years. Seventy-two months. About three hundred thirteen weeks. Two thousand ninety days. And you know what? That’s a long time. A super long time. If they didn’t figure it out then, why would they be here now? There’s no point. They gave up, _he_ gave up on them. Maybe that Guna jelly wasn’t as good as he thought it was, he’s gotta be hallucinating. But, no, that Guna jelly was _delicious_. 

Huh. 

Why the _fuck_ are they here now? 

* * *

Gamora glances at Peter, who seems to be having a slight panic attack after he uttered, “Holy shit”. Dick is staring at the group with a blank face, though his eyes are starting to narrow. Gamora lets out a low sigh before turning to the group. She studies them for a moment as Nova Prime speaks. There’s seven of them. Three older adults: a man in a black suit, a man in a glowing green suit, and a woman in armor. The other four are young adults: two men and two women, one with green skin. Somehow they feel familiar, though she’s never met them before.

“Yes, this is the group I was telling you about. The Guardians of the Galaxy. Certainly didn’t name them that ourselves,” Nova Prime grumbles for a moment. “Anyhow, this is the group that will be helping with your security during your _stay_.” Nova Prime grits her teeth on the last word, seemingly irritated. 

“Apologies, Nova Prime. Security?” Gamora speaks up. The red headed man Dick’s age looks her up and down and she quirks her eyebrow, intently studying his eyes. He doesn’t seem too dangerous, more inexperienced. She could probably kill him within a few minutes if she had to. He quickly gets nervous and turns back. 

“This group is from another dimension. It seems that one of our Infinity Stones was found on their planet.” 

Rocket and Drax seemed pretty bored before Nova Prime mentioned Infinity Stones. Peter has snapped out of it, but Dick still glares at them all. “How many casualties were there?” She questions quickly. 

"Only one, thank the stars. The Justice League-” She gestures to the group. “-contained it before anyone else could get hurt. Their containment, however, is not strong enough for the Stone and everyone is at a huge risk. We have asked the Justice League to relinquish it to us, but they are unsure on whether or not this is a safe environment for it." She grits her teeth again, trying to avoid rolling her eyes. 

“I’m sorry, why are we here then?” Peter asks, his voice a mix of annoyed and anxious. Gamora gives him a look, but he ignores her. What is going on?

“While we discuss the matter, the Justice League will be staying on Xandar. There are a lot of parties out there that would do anything to get their hands on an Infinity Stone. You are here to protect the Justice League and if they choose to relinquish it to us, the Infinity Stone while we prepare for it." 

Peter seems to fight with himself on something, glancing at Dick for a moment. Why are they debating this? Xandar is a helpful ally and will most likely reward them with a substantial payment when this is over. When Dick sets his jaw and gives a little nod, Peter sighs. “Yeah, okay.” 

What’s happening? 

“Great.” Nova Prime says with a clipped tone. “I’ll finish my discussion with the Justice League and I’ll have my advisor go over security details with you all later.” 

Gamora takes that as their cue to leave and she doesn’t miss the tension leaving Dick’s shoulders as they do so. 

* * *

Dick shakes his head at Gamora when she seems like she’s going to ask. He doesn’t know what to think. He keeps switching from emotion to emotion, seeing them go by like the bars on a lotto machine. Peter keeps staring at him like he’s going to explode. Dick shakes his head again. For right now, he’s going to have it land on one: indifference. He’s not going to think about it. He’s not going to talk to them. He’s not going to do _shit_. 

“What a bunch of brightly coloured aholes. Didn’t even say anything to us.” Rocket grumbles. “This better be worth it.” 

Dick shrugs. “It’ll be over in a few days and everything will go back to normal.” Hopefully. 

“I am Groot.” Groot snides, looking over from his game. 

Peter looks affronted, holding a hand over his chest. “We are the most normal family in the Galaxy, Groot.” 

Gamora and Drax give him a weird look and Dick smirks. “Oh yeah. _Totally_ normal.” He throws an arm over Peter’s shoulders. He forces himself to smile fully. “Come on, Nova Prime doesn’t need us right now. Let’s go do something fun. _Like a family_.” 

“Now we’re talking.” Rockets rubs his hands together and Groot actually looks away from his game. 

Peter reaches forward, looking like he wants to talk to him. “Dick-”

“Team building.” Dick says to Gamora, ignoring Peter. 

Gamora understands and if it wasn’t for what’s going on, she never would have said yes. Dick’s so glad they all met. “Yes, we haven’t done any team building exercises in a while. Nova Prime said we were welcome to use their training facility any time.” 

Drax grunts in delight right when Rocket groans. “I thought you said something fun. _Training_ ain’t fun.”

“You could try to blow us up.” Dick points out. 

Rocket grins. 

* * *

Peter watches as Dick runs up the wall, pushing off and flipping over the bot that explodes. He takes his escrima sticks out and fights off one of the training robots that charges forward, his face set. Rocket laughs wildly and sends another explosive towards him. Drax intercepts this one and throws it towards the ceiling with a yell. Rocket tears at the floor, grabbing wiring to do….something. Peter sighs. 

“He knows them, doesn’t he?” Gamora asks, her eyes still watching the session. Groot looks up at them from the corner. 

Peter isn’t surprised she pieced it together. “From his dimension.” He confirms. He takes a deep breath. “They were like his family. I’m pretty sure the one in black is the one that took him in after his parents died.” 

“Oh.” Gamora doesn’t say anything else, but her lips press together tightly. 

“I am Groot?” 

Peter turns towards Groot. “He showed me a photo once, bud. That’s why I recognized them.” 

“They don’t recognize _him_.” Gamora says dryly, crossing her arms. 

Peter can see why that would upset her, but Peter chokes out a laugh. “I’m not surprised. He was so short. Baby faced. Dumbo ears. He was almost fifteen when we met, but it wasn’t until he was sixteen that he sprouted.” 

“He had a different code name before as well, right?”

“Yeah, Robin. It’s a bird on Terra.” 

The tension leaves her shoulders slightly. “He doesn’t seem to want to talk to them.” Peter can hear the unspoken words underneath. _He doesn’t seem to want to go back._

“No, he doesn’t.” Peter doesn’t know why that makes him feel better and shittier at the same time. 

* * *

Wally really wants to leave, this conference room is boring. He stares out of the window at the foreign surroundings. He wants to go out in the city on this planet, try all their food. See how their tech works. The ruler of this planet gave them these temporary language translators so they can understand everyone. 

“Pay attention.” Artemis mumbles under her breath, bumping his leg. 

They shouldn’t even really be here. Earth is going to shit right now though and everyone besides Bats, Hal, Diana, and the most of the OG YJ members couldn't come. Wonder Woman said it would be a good diplomacy experience for them to have when they become real Justice League members. Wally wishes Kaldur was here, but Kal is already Aquaman and “doesn’t need anymore experience.” That and some monster was trying to destroy Atlantis. Whatever. 

So, there’s seven of them here. Like the original seven which Wally does think is cool. He just thought this would be more fun than it’s been. So far the commander has been telling them about all the safety measures Xandar has. 

“Ah, here they are.” The commander stands up from his seat and gives a greeting. 

The group from earlier enters through the double doors and Wally turns to face them. He does his best to avoid the green woman’s eyes. Wally’s pretty sure she could kill him before he could blink. 

“I trust Denarian Dey briefed you on the details.” The woman nods and the raccoon rolls his eyes. Jesus Christ, when did his life get like this? A _raccoon_ just rolled his eyes. “Splendid. As you know, these are our visitors from an alternate dimension. Justice League, the Guardians of the Galaxy will be escorting you wherever you go. You’ll be in small groups to prevent detection. There will be two Guardians per group.

“Rocket and Groot will be guarding Wonder Woman and Green Lantern.” The commander has a sour tone to his voice when he says Diana and Hal’s names like he finds them ridiculous. “Gamora and Starlord will be with Batman, Miss Martian, and Superboy. Drax and Nightwing will be with Kid Flash and Artemis. They will be rotating every two days. Now, we will show you to your quarters. Sustenance will be provided to your rooms.”

“Wait.” Wally speaks up, making everyone’s head turn towards him. “Who’s who?” 

“I am Groot.” The tree glances up from his Gameboy. Wait. How does a tree have a Gameboy? 

“Rocket.” The raccoon bares his teeth at them, grinning. 

“I am Drax the Destroyer.” The gray and red skin hulk of a man states, looking bored. 

The green skinned woman crosses her arms, “Gamora.” 

“I’m Starlord or Peter.” The man who looks like he’s from Earth gives them finger guns. The guy with black hair and a domino mask doesn’t say anything. Wally stares at him for a moment, he didn’t notice him before. He has escrima sticks on his sides and his suit is all black, except for the almost bird shaped blue insignia on his chest that extends down to his fingertips. Peter pats his shoulder almost nervously. “And this is Nightwing.” 

Nightwing still doesn’t say anything, staring at them all with narrowed eyes. Wally’s eyebrows furrow. Why does he seem familiar? Maybe because he looks like he’s from Earth too.

“Alright, now that’s out of the way…” Peter starts, gesturing to the door. 

They rise from their seats, moving towards their assigned Guardian. Great, Wally and Artemis get the silent one and the one that literally has Destroyer in their name. Why couldn’t he get the talking tree? 

When they exit the conference room, Xandarian guards lead him and Arty and the Guardians follow behind them. The three groups each go down different hallways.

“So,” Wally looks back at the two. “You guys from Xandar? How’d you end up here?” 

Drax stares at him with his piercing purple eyes. “I am from Kylos, a planet known for our warriors. I have not ended here. Half of my planet was murdered including my wife and daughter, but I will one day get my revenge.” 

Wally and Artemis glance at each other with wide eyes. What the fuck? “Uh, I’m sorry about your family.” 

Drax just nods. 

“Heavy.” Wally shakes his head a little, “Uh, how about you?” 

Nightwing doesn’t say anything, still staring ahead past his head. Artemis just shrugs at Wally. 

“You are from a different Terra, are you not Nightwing?” Drax stares at him confused. Nightwing glances at him, sending him a quick glare. Drax still seems confused. 

Okay, he’s from Terra. Isn’t that what they call Earth here? So he’s from this dimension’s Earth. But Drax said different Terra. Maybe there’s two different Earths in this weird dimension? 

Wally goes to open his mouth to ask another question, but Artemis shakes her head at him. What? 

“This will be your quarters. Dinner shall arrive shortly.” The guard ahead of them states, opening the door with his hand and bowing before leaving. 

“Nightwing and I will be standing here outside your door.” Drax states, moving to the other side of the door.. 

Nightwing says nothing, but makes a small gesture with his head for them to go in the room. The first time he's really acknowledged them. Wally peaks his head in and sees his and Arty’s bag on the bed. Arty rolls her eyes and drags him fully into the room. The door closes behind them quickly. 

Wally feels himself being added to a Mind Link. 

‘ _Just in case._ ’ Megan says lightly. 

Wally decides to take advantage of it. ‘ _Okay, did you guys learn anything about them?_ ’

* * *

Drax looks at him, mildly concerned. “Is your throat damaged?” 

“No, Drax.” Dick says, leaning against the wall. He knows Drax won’t let it go though. “I don’t _want_ to talk to any of them.” 

Drax thinks for a few moments before he speaks. “You are from a different Terra. These imbeciles,” Dick snorts. Wally didn’t make a good first impression on him. “Are from a different Terra. Are you from their Terra?” Drax is smarter than any of them give him credit for. 

“Yes.” Dick decides to answer him honestly. Drax doesn’t deserve to be lied to. 

“And you know them?” 

“Yes.” 

“Do they know you?” Drax frowns, looking at the door. 

Dick takes a moment before he answers. “Not anymore.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I'm going to try to post more on this story, but we'll see. My college is doing online classes almost fully and I hate online classes. I'm going to try my best though! Please let me know what you think of this version!


	3. Chapter 3

_Wally keeps staring at him with wide eyes and Dick is doing his best to ignore him. He presses the volume on his iPod, turning it up even higher. Why they had to do a mission on today of all days he_ _doesn’t know. He has terrible luck. Especially since they pulled Wally in on the mission too and he threw a fit that Dick was even going because he knows what day it is._

_He keeps trying to talk to him and Dick keeps turning his music up. He doesn’t want to talk about it._

“ _And anytime you feel the pain_

_Hey Jude, refrain_

_Don't carry the world upon your shoulders_

_For well you know that it's a fool_

_Who plays it cool_

_By making his world a little colder”_

* * *

“So, your whole schtick is bats?” Peter questions him, glaring at the back of his head. This guy was supposed to protect Dick, was supposedly like a father to him, and what? Just was never able to find him? 

Batman doesn’t respond to him. “What’s a bat?” Gamora asks quietly. 

“It’s an animal on Terra. Flies around, bites people, turns them into vampires.” Gamora raises an eyebrow at him. “Maybe not. Do you fly?” Peter turns his questioning back to Batman. 

“No.” His voice is gruff.

“I do.” The green girl offers up, letting herself float off the floor. Her shade of green is super close to Gamora’s, but their facial features are so different he knows she’s not Zehoberei. It’d be nice if Gamora’s race survived in a different dimension. 

Peter gives her an easy smile. She seems very bubbly, a smile on her face almost constantly. 

Wait, maybe he shouldn’t be smiling at her. He’s pretty sure she was on the team Dick was on before he was taken by Yondu. Why didn’t they ever look for him? Not like he’s complaining. Dick is his family and he never would have found him if Yondu didn’t do what he did. But with Dick being his family, that means that he cares about Dick and these people made him feel like shit for years. 

“How’d you get here?” Peter asks them suddenly. 

The girl, Megan if he remembers right, talks for them. “Oh, well, we’ve never dimension traveled before, but after we found the, uh, stone we couldn’t find out what it was. We asked the Lantern Corp. and they were able to find someone who knew about them. But he’s a dimension traveler and heard about them here.” 

“I guess when he came here asking about them, the Nova Corp detained him.” The boy, Conner, says with a grunt. 

Peter rubs the back of his neck. “Yeah, they’re kind of testy about them considering the last one almost destroyed Xandar.” He shrugs, “Well, they’ve had a handle on that one for a couple years. I’m sure they can handle one more.” 

This is when Batman turns to face him, his eyes narrowing. Oh my god, that’s where Dick gets his glare. What the fuck- “Almost destroyed Xandar?” 

Peter grimaces. Guess they hadn’t divulged that information yet. “Yeah, a wacko got his hands on one. Had a vendetta. We stopped him.” 

Gamora glares right back at Batman, her gaze never wavering. “Xandar is more than capable of handling the stone.” Her voice leaves no room for argument. God, she’s hot. “We’ve seen what one of them can do, we know the consequences if it’s not secured properly.” She raises an eyebrow at him. “Is your planet prepared? Are you?” 

He’s going to marry this woman. 

* * *

“I am Groot.” Groot nudges Rocket. 

Rocket waves him off, “What? No he don’t.” 

“I am Groot.” Groot insists. 

Did they leave him out of this? He already knew that flippy moron was from a different dimension, but he’s from theirs? Why wouldn’t Grayson tell them? 

“Why does the tree keep saying the same thing over and over?” The green guy says, his voice annoying. 

“He ain’t a tree and he only knows I and Am and Groot.” 

The broad with the golden rope by her side that he wants to steal looks back at them, “I know hundreds of languages, but I do not know that one. How do you understand him?” 

“We been together a long time.” Is all Rocket’s gonna say about it. 

“What curious creatures.” She looks them up and down one more time before lookin’ forward. 

Rocket’s hair bristles. Maybe Grayson was right to not reveal himself. These humies are annoying. 

* * *

They look so different and yet not really. Diana looks the same, flawless and perfect as always. Hal has more stubble than he’s used to, but the same laugh lines. Megan’s hair is shorter and she’s less smiley than before, but she still has the same kindness in her eyes. Conner basically looks the same, but he seems to walk around with less anger and more confidence. Artemis still has the jaded look in her eyes, but it’s softer. Wally isn’t the lanky teenager he last saw, he’s really grown into himself. It’s nice to know they’re all alright, all doing good, even if he still holds some resentment towards them. He’s trying to do his best to remain indifferent towards them. 

It all goes out the window when he looks at Bruce. 

This is the man that wouldn’t sleep for days until he solved a case. A man who would run himself ragged trying to figure out the smallest detail. And he seems the same! Still calculating, pondering every move. 

Where was that for him? They were able to figure out dimension travel for the stone. Why couldn’t they for him? He thought….he thought he was a lot of things to Bruce. Bruce didn’t even really look for him. 

He has a new Robin too. 

He heard Diana ask Bruce if he'd heard from Robin and Dick almost felt his stomach come up his throat, but then he responded back, saying that he was at the Mountain. 

And honestly? Batman needs a Robin, needs someone to balance him out and makes sure he doesn’t go too dark. He’s glad that he found someone else. He really is, it’s just...What does that mean Dick was? Was he just a sidekick to Bruce? Someone replaceable? Maybe he’s just being whiny. That was a long time ago. Dick has a family now, he likes his life the way it is. He just...he always thought of Bruce like his dad. He had hoped Bruce thought of him like a son. 

Guess not. 

* * *

“Finally! A free day! Those humies are annoying. More than you Quill.”

“Hey!” Peter looks affronted. 

“It’s not a free day, Rocket.” Gamora states, crossing her arms. “It’s just for a few hours while they talk security details with Nova Prime now that they’ve consented to bringing the Stone here.” 

“Finally.” Dick mumbles. Peter looks at him worried. When they were assigned together, Dick didn’t want to talk about it with him, so instead they played iSpy for a few hours. He knows that eventually Peter is going to make him talk about it, but what’s there to say? They’ll be going back soon and everything can go back to normal. 

“Dick, go gas up the Milano.” 

Dick looks at Peter confused, “What?” 

“I don’t trust Rocket to do it after that last time-” 

“That guy was staring at me weird! How was I not supposed to give him a good punch in the-” 

“Enough.” Gamora states, looking irritated. “No, Rocket is still banned from refuel duty-” 

“Makes no sense-” 

“So, yes, Dick. Please go refuel the Milano.” 

“Why now?” Dick asks. This is the first time they’ve all been together in the past couple days. 

“We want to talk about you while you are not here.” Drax states simply. 

Dick is instantly irritated. Rocket slaps Drax’s leg. “Idiot!” 

“Dick, wait-” Peter starts, his eyes wide. 

“I don’t understand why you feel the need to talk about me behind my back when everything is fine. Soon everything will be as it should.” 

Peter and Gamora look almost terrified, but Dick snatches the keys out of his hand and walks off towards the ship. He stomps in, ripping his mask off and flicking on switches angrily. What the fuck? No seriously, what the fuck? He gets it, he didn’t want to talk to Peter about it, but that doesn’t mean Peter can turn around and talk about the situation behind his back! They’re all leaving soon! What does it matter?

He lands the ship on the refuel dock and watches as the attendant comes up, typing in the model of the ship. The robot arms opens the gas tank and starts dispensing. Dick lets his head fall onto the control panel. God damn it. 

Okay and maybe he is ignoring the whole situation. So what? He can choose to do that. It’s _his_ situation. Dick isn’t concerned about it. Not one bit. They don’t recognize him. They don’t know him anymore. They’re just strangers now. They’ll go back to their dimension and Dick can finally move on. He found out what happened, he knows how they all turned out. He has no more curiosity in him. Dick is over it, he’s done. 

_They’re just worried about you._

Dick groans, rubbing his face. Fuck. Yeah, they probably are. He’s sure storming off didn’t help. He sighs, leaning back. He hasn’t said anything to them about the situation, they probably don’t even know what he’s thinking. He means....he told them that everything will be as it should be, they should know that he isn't going anyw.....

Ah shit. They probably thought he was saying he was going back. That’s why they were so freaked out. God damn it, Grayson. 

He pinches the bridge of his nose, sighing hard. “Why do you have to fuck up things all the time?” Dick mutters to himself. 

He feels the ship shake a little as the arm retracts. Dick needs to go apologize, let them know that he’s not going anywhere. He flies the Milano as fast as he can back to the base. As he scans the outside of the building as he lands, he can’t find anyone. They have official quarters inside, but when he opens the doors, they’re empty. Maybe they went to the training room again? He starts towards it, feeling really anxious for some reason. 

“Hey, Nightwing!” 

Dick suppresses a groan. _Of course_. He turns towards the group and Wally stops dead in his tracks, his face paling. His eyes flick over to the other three and they seem a little shocked too. 

“What.” This is the first time he’s spoken to them. 

Artemis is the one who speaks. “Nova Prime got pulled out for something. We walked off to find something to eat. Can’t find the conference room again. Uh, the really big one.” 

Dick nods, knowing where it’s at. He bets that’s where the rest of the Guardians are too. He starts to walk towards it, but Wally stops him. 

“Your face…” Wally says quietly, staring at him like he’s seen a ghost. Dick looks at him weirdly. He thinks he has a rather nice face. Nice to know Wally still doesn’t have a filter. “Sorry, I...you look like someone I know. I’ve never seen you without your mask.” 

Ah shit. “Mmhm.” Dick hums at him before he turns away, gritting his teeth and continuing towards the conference room. He can’t believe he forgot his mask on the ship. This whole situation is making him slip up fucking everywhere. Peter is, for once, right. After he talks with the Guardians, he’s asking Nova Prime to pull him off security detail. 

He feels the four following behind him before he hears one skid to a stop. “Wait. Drax said you were from a different Earth. I asked, there’s only one Earth here.” Fuck.

Dick starts walking again. This is ridiculous. He doesn’t know why his heart starts thammering. They don’t know. 

Wally starts walking again, this time faster. “Megan said that she can’t tap into any of your minds, like you all already know how to protect yourselves from a mind link. But she said she kept trying to connect to one of you and she couldn’t understand why. And god, I might be insane and missing my best friend, but your hair and your eyes are just-” 

Dick stops, turning around to glare at him. Wally keeps searching his face, trying to find something that isn’t there. He isn’t Robin anymore, he isn’t the same person he was seven years ago. Dick sets his jaw, “No, I’m not-” 

The building suddenly shakes hard, glass shattering around them and Dick instantly knows what’s happening or at least has an idea. He starts sprinting to the conference room, his chest almost constricting. Fuck, please be wrong. _Please be wrong_. 

When he throws open the conference room doors, eyes wild, there’s a hole in the ceiling and a giant ship in it, carrying a bubble with the Leaguers. Dick hears the team yell out, but he can't concentrate because a light lands on the Guardians, freezing them in place. He rushes forward trying to grab them before the bubble forms. He crashes into a containment shield, his fingers just barely brushing Peters, and he takes his sword out, desperately trying to find a chink in the armor. 

The bubble starts to move away and he can’t stop it. " **_PETER!_ **" rips out of him. 

Peter looks at him with pained eyes, his mouth barely being able to open. “ **_DICK_ **!” The bubble moves farther away from them, entering into the ship.

Dick hears screams outside and he turns around, pushing through the others, and rushing to the stairwell. He takes five at a time, pushing himself to go faster, faster, faster. He reaches the top, the cool air hitting his face, and he sees that half the city is on fire. 

There’s screams throughout the air and he knows not all of them are from people. There’s creatures swarming the buildings, dropping out of a hole in the sky. He sees one on a sky racer coming this way. He also sees the ship that took the Guardians heading towards the hole. 

He steadies himself and starts sprinting across the rooftop, hoping he’s timing this right. Someone’s screaming at him from behind to stop, but he throws himself off of the building, free falling for a moment, the air stinging his face, before he catches the edge of the steering wheel on the sky racer. He swings himself over, knocking the creature off to its doom below. He quickly figures out the controls and starts pushing it to go higher towards the ship. 

Dick can see it, but the hole is starting to close. _No, no, no, no, NO!_ He tries his best to ignore the screams and heat coming at him, he’s so close to them, the ship is _almost_ through the hole, but he feels his stomach tightening with dread and he knows he can help with what's happening below him.

“ **_God damn it_ **!” He turns the sky racer down, pointing it directly down at a group of the creatures on the ground. He keeps it pointed down, his hair whipping around him, and at the last second, he jumps off, using his grappling hook to pull himself away. The racer explodes on the ground and Dick can’t bring himself to care about property damage or the splatter of blood. He grapples away and lands on the surface streets. 

“Everyone get underground!” He screams at the Xandarians nearby, using his sword to stop one creature from gunning down a little girl. He sees its ugly face for the first time and it suddenly seems...familiar? What the-

It screams in his face and he violently uses the butt of his sword to knock it out. These things don’t look very sentient, but just in case, he won’t kill any of them. Or try to. 

An hour later, things have calmed down enough in that area and Dick’s covered in blood that may or may not be his own. He grapples over to the command center, landing in front of a soldier. “Where’s Nova Prime?” He growls out and the soldier doesn’t even question him, stating something about the underground command room. 

Everyone gets out of his way quickly and he kicks open the command room doors, rage still pumping through his veins. “Please tell me you were able to track the ship that took them.” 

Nova Prime presses her lips together. “Nightwing-” The room shakes like another bomb hit the ground and Nova Prime takes a moment to right herself. “This is going to last a while, you need to take the remaining League and leave Xandar.” Dick realizes they’re being restrained in the corner of the room. 

Dick shakes his head. “My family-” 

“We have to put all of our resources into protecting the city and disposing of these creatures. Protect them and find the League and your family. Once they realize they did not capture all of our visitors, they will be back. I’m entrusting you with this task.” The room shakes again and Dick hears snarls in the hallways. Nova Prime’s face pales. “GO!” 

Dick sees them remove the restraints on the four and he starts sprinting through the hallways, sliding to knock the creatures off their feet. This time he uses his escrima sticks to electrocute the creatures as the five of them go by. He springboards off the wall and flips over one with a gun, jabbing it in the head. He takes the gun off it and continues forward towards the landing bay. He snipes a few in the shoulder on the landing bay and a couple more on the streets going towards civilians. The gun dies and he flings it at one of the creature’s faces. 

Dick unlocks the bay doors, ushering in the four quickly and rushing in after them. He takes to the pilot’s seat, switching on controls quickly. Something starts shooting at his ship and he hopes that the Milano will be able to take it for a moment. 

He gets her in the air, having to 360 her a few times to avoid incoming ships and fire. Once they’re actually in space, Dick finally gives himself a chance to breathe. 

“WHAT THE FUCK?!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys like it! Sorry it's so late, a lot happened since August and I also almost died. So...leave a comment?


	4. Chapter 4

_ He flings himself up off of the cold metal floor and pulls out his bo staff, attacking as fast as he can. Whoever the fuck they are is definitely unprepared for him. He sweeps the leg of the first person in front of him and flips over their body, sprinting down the first hallway he sees. There’s yells behind him, but he can’t stop. He pants hard, trying to find a window, a hatch door, anything he can get out of.  _

_ The yells suddenly stop behind him and a blue skinned man steps in front of him. “Where do you think you’re going boy?”  _

_ Dick uses the wall as a springboard, flipping over the man and raising his bo staff to strike. There’s a low whistle and suddenly he’s staring at an arrow trained in front of his face.  _

_ “I know the answer. It’s nowhere.”  _

* * *

The creatures looked familiar to him.  _ Why _ ? Dick’s never fought against them before that he’s aware of. 

“WHAT THE FUCK?!” 

God, its face though. He’s seen that nose-less face before. He knows he has.  _ Where though _ ? 

Wally starts pacing back and forth, stumbling over his words. “YOU-I KNEW THOSE EYES BUT YOU DIDN’T-HOW THE FUCK? YOU’RE  _ ALIVE _ ?!” 

“God, shut up.” Dick mumbles, rubbing his face. He just succeeds in spreading the blood even more. This isn’t important right now.  _ Where _ has he seen it before? 

“I WILL NOT-” 

“ _ Shut up! _ ” Dick roars, standing up. It goes silent. Everyone is staring at him with wide eyes like he just killed their dogs. “God damn it, I’m sorry I didn’t say anything if that makes you feel better. We don’t have time for this shit though. I need to find the Guardians and the League-” 

Wally snaps out of it. “We’ll make fucking time!” He screams back, stepping forward. Dick sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. If he could, he’d ditch them on some random planet and come back later for them. If they can’t focus on the mission at hand, they’re not going to be helpful. 

Wally stares at him intensely for a minute and Dick glowers back. “It’s really you?” Wally’s voice drops to the quietest he’s heard it yet. 

Dick feels uncomfortable. “Yeah-” 

Wally crashes into him, squeezing him tightly. Dick looks at him with wide eyes, his arms out. He was not expecting that. “What happened?” Wally says quietly, leaning back with tears in his eyes. “Why didn’t you come back? Where have you been for the past five years?” 

“Five years?” Dick looks them over again. Oh, that’s why they seemed off. He thought they’d look older. “It’s been almost seven for me.” This dimension’s time must run faster. Also, he thinks it’s been seven, but he isn’t super sure. Earth years isn’t really the common timekeep. 

“Seven years?” Megan’s eyes are already watering. Unless her powers have changed, everyone’s emotions are probably affecting her badly. 

“Answer the question!” Conner steps forward. “Why didn’t you come back?” 

Dick sets his jaw, he doesn’t have time for this. “Look, we don’t have time right now. We need to-” 

“I want to know why my best friend never came back! Why didn't you even tell us that it was you when we first came here?! Why-” 

“We don’t-” 

“You never even spoke a word to us until today!” Megan starts to cry. 

Artemis throws her hands up, “You throw yourself off of a building just to avoid us-” 

“My best friend-” 

“Why the hell-” 

“You need to-” 

“ _ STOP _ _!_ ” Dick growls, feeling cornered. He runs a hand through his hair, pacing slightly to calm himself. “Let’s get this straight. You?  _ You _ left  _ me _ . You didn’t even search for me. Or gave up!” Dick can’t keep it in anymore, his words exploding out of him. “You gave up looking for me and yet were  _ still _ able to figure out a way to get here for the stupid stone! I don’t owe any of you  _ shit _ . I had to move on! I was fourteen and alone in a different dimension with nowhere-” It hits him. “To go.” He finishes the thought. Jesus Christ. Why is it always there?

“Dick-” Wally starts, looking hurt. 

He cuts him off, turning away. “Get in the seats. The nearest access point is thirty two clicks away.” Dick quickly slides into the pilot’s seat, making the Milano go faster. Shit, if he’s right, he needs to get to him quickly. Dick quickly flicks switches, getting her ready to jump. “You’re gonna want to buckle up.” 

Dick flicks the last switch and accelerates towards the hexagon shaped hole. Everything starts swirling around them, the other worlds flashing by at an almost indiscernible speed. Dick feels okay, but he can hear Wally screaming in the back and he glances back to see them getting pulled and squished like silly putty. 

There’s a sudden jerk and the ship stops. They fall from their seats, dry heaving, but bodies back to normal.

“You puke, you clean it up.” Dick states, standing from the seat. They’ll be moving in this direction for a long time before they get to their destination. He looks down at his blood sodden and ripped suit. He’s going to need to take a shower before they get there. 

He heads to the bathroom, quickly locking the door behind him just as they start trying to talk to him again. Dick turns on the water before he starts hyperventilating, gripping the edge of the sink. 

This is all his fault. The Guardians could be dead right now. He should’ve been there. He should have revealed himself sooner. Maybe it would have turned out differently. Maybe they would have trusted Xandar sooner and brought the stone before those creatures came. Maybe they wouldn’t have. They don’t exactly trust him right now with how he’s acting. 

Fuck, everything is awful. 

He quickly gets into the shower, watching the red and brown streaks of blood swirl down the drain. 

* * *

Peter’s first thought when he wakes up is  _ ooooooowwwwwwwwwww _ . Ugh, his head. Why does his head hurt so much? He tries to open his eyes, but they feel super heavy. Geez, what happened?

"Peter?"

That's Gamora. She kinda sounds angry. Oh shit. He must have gone drinking with Dick and Rocket again. Gamora is going to be  **_pisssssseeeddd_ ** ! She's going to withhold sex again! That was the longest month of his life! Oh, god. He has to get up and apologize,  _ quickly _ . 

He forces his eyes open with a moan. A green blob is right in front of his face. It moves and bends down towards him. "Peter? Wake up."

Oh, the green blob must be Gamora. In his defense, he’s probably hungover. He blinks a couple times, trying to clear everything up. "'Mora?" He slurs. 

The green blob clears up to reveal his girl. She looks tired and dirty, but she smiles. "Finally, you're awake."

He groans and tries to sit up, "Ugh, what happened?"

"Stinkin' cowards decided to kidnap us and then don't show their ugly faces!" Rocket shouts at the bars, while pacing. Oh, it all comes back to him. The fight, the bubble things, yelling for...

"Where's Dick?" Peter sits upright finally, leaning his back against the wall. He sees Gamora exchange a glance with Drax. “He wasn’t captured was he? 

She shakes her head, "No, he wasn't."

He smiles, "Oh, thank god. He'll figure out how to rescue us. He's done it before. A lot. I mean, we have had to for him a lot, so it’ll like even out at this point.” He rubs the back of his head, wincing. “What about the League?” 

"The three of them were taken by guards for interrogation." Drax says from the corner, watching Rocket pace. He notices that his fur is sticking up, but he doesn’t really care at the moment.

“Three of them?” Peter is still a bit out of it. “Shouldn’t it be seven?” 

Silence. Rocket stops pacing.

Peter looks at them all confused, “What?” 

"I am Groot."

“Shit.” They didn’t get captured? Dick’s probably with them right now and he’s probably going insane. Why are their lives like this? 

His head starts to hurt as he remembers something. He gets up quickly, a wave of nausea hitting him, but he does his best to ignore it. More is coming back to him. After the bubble was carried to the ship, a gas filled the air and they all fell to the ground. Something happened before that though. Why does that part of his brain hurt? 

Peter shakes his head, it’ll come to him later. Peter starts towards the bars, hoping Dick's okay. "Dick will be okay, but we should try to figure out if we can get out of-" His hand is inches from touching the bars when he feels himself being pulled back by the scruff of his collar. 

"Peter! The bars are electrified." Gamora stares at Peter like the idiot he is. 

"How do you kno-" He cuts himself off when he sees Rocket pouting. His fur… "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You-you!" He has to sit down because of how hard he’s laughing. His chest hurts so much, but  _ fucking Rocket _ . 

Rocket snarls, "Oh, just shut up, Star-Idiot. Did you even have a plan when you went for the bars?"

He stops laughing, "Well, I was coming up with one."

"How much of one?" Gamora inquires.

"Maybe twelve percent?"

* * *

Wally counts the day Dick was kidnapped as the worst day of his life. Wait, no, maybe the worst day of his life was the next day when no one could figure out where he went or maybe it was seven months later when he realized he’d most likely never see his best friend again. Wally doesn’t know. He does know that  _ this _ day is high up on the list though. 

And this day should be on the happy days list. The Artemis said yes and he got into his dream school list. They should be hugging and laughing and telling stories and maybe even getting drunk and crying with each other. But that’s not happening. Instead, on the day that should be happy, the League is getting kidnapped, there’s an army destroying a city, and his best friend doesn’t care that they’re here. 

Wally doesn’t understand how Dick could think they gave up. They didn’t even have a way of knowing that he was in a different dimension, but that didn’t mean they stopped looking for him in their own. Sure, Wally doesn’t know how active the search is now after it being five years, but he knows the League still has alerts set up in case there’s a sighting. He knows Bats still runs himself ragged trying to figure out what went wrong. 

What  _ did _ go wrong? What happened that day? And what happened to the boy Wally knew? He honestly can’t blame himself for taking so long to realize that Nightwing was Dick. Does dimension travel have side effects like personality changes? He’s really considering it because holy shit. From being silent as a mouse to jumping off roofs to showing up drenched in blood, Wally just doesn’t know. 

And he wants to know. He wants to figure out what the fuck happened, but he listens to the shower pounding on the tub and wonders if Dick will let him. 

* * *

Dick crawls through the air vent that connects the bathroom and the greenhouse, feeling stupid and large. How the fuck did he use to do this? He should _ not  _ have done this. He’s going to break something and Peter’s gonna yell at him for being dumb. 

He feels justified in his reasoning though. He just doesn’t want to  _ fucking _ deal with them all. He drops down from the ceiling, landing without even a thud, grabs a Yaro Root, and slips into his bedroom next door. 

Dick drapes the towel over his chair, pulls his headphones over his ears, and flops onto his bed to the sounds of The Beatles. He bites into the Yaro Root, chewing it more than he needs to as he thinks. 

Tivan doesn’t exactly like them and even if he knew that Dick was alone, he doubts he’d be up for a meeting. Besides, if Tivan does have one of the creatures like he thinks, then Tivan might know who is responsible or could be linked. It’s probably not the greatest idea to go alone, but Dick’s gonna have to do it. 

He could try to sell him something? A bargaining chip for information. Dick doesn’t have anything though, at least nothing he’s willing to give up. He doubts The Collector would want his iPod and he knows Rocket has a few of Groot’s old sticks somewhere, but the way Tivan talks about Groot creeps him out. 

Dick gets dressed quickly, pulling on his black Ravager garb and pocketing a mask. He slaps his holo computer onto his wrist and pulls up their current location. They still have a way to go to Knowhere. Dick studies the planets they’ll pass and one of them makes him pause. Peter had talked about that planet before, he wanted to steal something from it. 

Fuck. He remembers what Peter wanted to steal. Fuck, fuck, fuck. 

Dick exits his room, walking quickly to the cockpit. He can hear people trying to talk to him from over his music. He sits in the pilot’s seat, pulling down his headphones to rest around his neck. He adjusts the coordinates slightly and turns on the ship’s stealth mode, humming quietly as he does. 

“Are you going to talk to us?!” Wally demands from the central cabin. 

Dick thinks about it for a second. “No.” The ship starts to enter the atmosphere of the planet Moord, jerking slightly. Dick rolls his eyes at the sound of indignation and turns to face them, standing. “I have to make a pit stop real quick. Land the ship and try not to die while I’m gone.” Dick walks to the hold of the ship, jumping a little bit to loosen up. 

“Where are you going?” Megan asks, looking concerned as the door starts to open and the air whips her hair around. 

Dick cracks his neck. “I have to steal something before we get to our final destination.” 

“WHAT?!” 

Artemis and Dick both ignore Wally. “Do you even have a plan?” She yells over the rushing wind, gripping the wall. 

Dick grins, “Nope.” He flashes them a peace sign before he lets himself fall backwards, laughing at the sudden weightlessness as he plummets to the ground. He should’ve done this sooner, his mood perked right up. He activates his rocket boots before he gets too close to the ground, landing in a tree on the edge of the city. 

He presses the mask to his eyes, breathless, before he stares at his surroundings and his mood instantly sours. 

* * *

“What the fuck is his problem?!” Wally yells over the wind, gesturing wildly to where Dick used to be. Artemis finds the control panel and closes the door quickly. “No, seriously.” 

“He’s going to get himself killed, going in with no plan like that.” Megan frets as she makes her way to the cockpit. 

“One of us should follow-” Conner starts. 

Artemis cuts him off quickly, “On a planet we don’t know in a dimension filled with things we have no knowledge of? Yeah, sure. Dick lives here, I’m sure he has whatever this is handled.” Arty sinks into one of the chairs. 

Wally scoffs, “You sure about that? ‘Cause I don’t know about you, but something is off with him. The Dick I knew wouldn’t….He’s jumping off things and stabbing things almost to death and apparently stealing things for no reason now too? One moment he’s all up in arms about finding the Guardians and now we’re stopping at a planet so he can pretend to be Catwoman?” 

“We don’t know what his life has been like.” Artemis says lightly, her eyebrows scrunching. 

“Exactly! I don’t know what the fuck happened to him because he refuses to talk to any of us! This isn’t Dick. I don’t even know if-” Wally cuts himself off. He doesn’t want to say it. Artemis already looks disappointed in him for even thinking it. 

“Oh what the fuck?” Dick’s voice is heard and Wally turns to find it coming from a monitor. He realizes they have live feed from Dick’s mask. 

“Can you hear us?” Conner asks, pressing different buttons. Dick doesn’t respond. 

“Of course it’s a slave planet. Can’t just be shitty lizard people, they also have to be racist as hell. The guys will want to help me. Hm, maybe we can…” Dick trails off while he hacks into a vault, his music still playing in his ears. “Ah.” The doors open and Dick quickly enters, shutting the door behind him. He scales the side of the wall, flipping onto the rafters above. Not a moment too soon as a lizard soldier goes by. 

‘Toxic’ by Britney Spears starts playing just as Dick lands, his head bobbing with the music. He takes the lizard soldier from behind, jabbing his escrima stick hard into his neck. He catches him before he falls, dragging the soldier off to the side and taking his weapon. “Wonder what this does.” Dick murmurs, turning the weapon from side to side. 

“Intruder!” A soldier yells from behind and Dick whirls around to face a small group of soldiers. 

“Oh, hey, guys. Do you know where the bathroom is?” 

The lizard soldier looks at him with disgust, “Oh, it’s a mammal. Not even worth the time.” 

“Oh, it’s a racist bitch.” Dick snarks back lightly. “Wanna tell me where the rest of your toys are before I beat your asses?” 

“Mammals are not to be fought. Only slaughtered.” 

The soldier’s tone sends chills down Wally’s spine. “Get out of there, Dick.” The feeling swells when Dick lets out a short, carefree laugh. 

“Yeah? We’ll see about that.” Dick shoots the gun, hitting a panel to the left of the soldiers. It sparks a few times. 

The soldiers seem amused. “You missed.” 

“No. No, I didn’t.” The lights suddenly go out and Wally, Conner, and Artemis can’t see anything that’s happening. Only able to hear ‘Toxic’ and the soldiers screams of a demon. Emergency lights flash on a few minutes later and yellow blood streaks the floor, the soldiers twitching in pain. 

Dick is holding a knife to the lead soldiers throat. “Wanna tell me now?” He growls, sounding so much like Batman it makes Wally pause. 

“Demon, s-spare us.” The soldier stutters. Dick just presses the knife harder against his throat in response. “You won’t be able to get in without Grogonal’s access.” 

“And where is he?” Dick’s tone is back to being pleasant, almost friendly. The soldier looks even more terrified for some reason. He points down a hall and Dick nods before slamming the butt of his knife as hard as he can against the soldier's head. He wipes the knife against his pants almost absentmindedly. 

He pauses for a moment. “Lizard Love? Really?” He takes a moment, cracking his neck while he switches the song. “Oh, perfect.” Everybody by the Backstreet Boys blasts in his ears as he takes down the hall quickly, fighting whatever lizard soldier he sees with calculated precision. Each time he asks in almost a sickly-sweet tone where he can find Grogonal. The ones who refuse to speak get a worse beatdown. 

Then, Dick finds a kid, a lizard kid. The kid raises his webbed fists, his hands shaking where he stands outside a door. There are shackles on his ankles. Dick crouches down and the kid looks confused, but quickly switches back to angry. “Grogonal in there?” 

The kid doesn’t answer, but glances quickly at the door. 

“You mind if I take those chains off you?” The kid looks shocked and a little scared. “What’s your name?” 

The kid looks around before he decides to answer. “Tiberius.” 

“Where’s your family, Tiberius?” 

The kid looks angry again. “I don’t got a family.” 

“Ah.” Dick sits on the floor. “I didn’t either.” 

The kid hears the meaning in his words. “You do now?”

“Yep. I’m actually planning on bringing them back here to remove more chains.” 

The kid looks down at his legs, “You won’t be able to.” 

Dick scooches forward, “How about this. If I can get those chains off you, you tell me where Grogonal is. If not, then you can knock me out and take me to them.” The kid sticks one of his legs out. “Alright then.” It doesn’t take Dick long to overpower the mechanism on the kid’s legs, it makes a satisfied hiss when it opens. 

The kid looks down, his face blank. “He’s in there.” He takes off right after and Dick watches him go before he turns to the door. 

The ship suddenly jerks and Wally is thrown against the panel. The feed is cut instantly. “Megan!” Wally yells, gripping the edge as the ship continues to jerk. 

“They’re shooting at us! I’m trying to lose them!” Megan replies curtly. Wally grips the edge the entire time, even hours later when they’re hidden in a forest and everything is quiet. 

“You really can’t get it back?” Wally asks Artemis, who’s been scanning through their monitor. 

Artemis opens her mouth to answer and her words are replaced by a loud hissing noise. The same one when Dick opened the hold door. Wally makes it there before anyone else and stops at the sight. Dick ushers in a group of 30 something battered people, talking in low tones to them as he grips the bag on his back. 

“I’ll be back with numbers to free the rest. You all will want to hide from the Badoons. Try and blend in.” A young, pink man asks Dick a question that he can’t hear. “Nowhere. That’s where.” He looks up and meets eyes with Wally for a moment. Dick sets his jaw and looks away pointedly. “We’ll be there soon.” 


	5. Chapter 5

_Dick eyes the ankle monitor, resisting the urge to try and get it off again. The last time he tried to fuck with it ended with him almost dying from electrical currents. Not fun. None of this is fun. Being forced to steal things for his captors isn’t fun. Being stuck in a whole ass different dimension isn’t fun. Being_ **_alone_ ** _isn’t fun. Not in the slightest._

_What’s worse is that he’s good at stealing. Alarmingly good. Like it’d-make-Catwoman-proud good. And….he likes it. Holy shit does he like it and that scares him a bit because what will happen when he goes back? Will he still be himself? What will happen when he has to help stop thieves and criminals and not_ **_be_ ** _one?_

_Because he is going back. He is. It’s been a few months, but he’s sure Bruce and the League are figuring something out. It’s a different dimension after all. He just has to be patient. Everything and everyone will go back to normal._

_Right?_

* * *

Wally takes a shower while Dick is gone and when he comes out, he finds Artemis on the monitor again. Artemis scooches over in the seat for him, wrapping her arms around him when he sits. “I found something.” 

“Yeah?” 

Arty turns back towards the monitor. “I was going through security files. It was nice seeing what Dick’s life's been like.” 

“Only way we’re gonna find out anything.” Wally mumbles angrily. 

Artemis ignores him. “There’s a lot of interesting stuff, but I found this from a few weeks ago.” She presses play and a video starts on the screen, KC & The Sunshine Band’s ‘Get Down Tonight’ playing. 

Drax is pretending not to look, his foot tapping with the beat. Peter and Gamora are swaying together, Peter giving her a spin every so often. Groot’s going all out, dancing hard to the music, and Dick, Dick is laughing more freely than Wally’s ever seen. “Get it, Groot!” He calls out, fist pumping the air and coming to dance beside him. Rocket rolls his eyes, but his shoulders move in a way that could be considered dancing. 

Dick is so happy in the moment that Wally is almost sad when the video ends. 

“There’s more like that. They play music a lot on the ship.” Artemis states. The silence in the air almost proves a point that Wally doesn’t want to think about. 

“What else did you find?” Wally decides to say instead. 

“I’ve only gone back a few weeks, but it seems like they travel a lot to go on missions. I think him and Peter have been together the longest though.” 

Wally glances at her for a moment before his eyes go back to the screen, watching footage of them coming back from a mission. “Why do you think that?” 

“Just the way they move. Like they know what the other’s going to do before they do it.” Artemis notes lightly. Wally frowns at that. “Also the raccoon keeps trying to take apart the ship to build bombs and Peter keeps getting mad at him.” 

Wally snorts. “Well, his name _is_ Rocket.” Wally presses his lips together. They are like a family…. He hears the hold door open and quickly closes the tab on the screen. 

* * *

“You’ll make sure they’re all right?” Dick asks Gus, watching the ex-slaves pick through the clothing piles. Dick’s pretty sure most of them are from the lost and found. He’s not worried about anyone listening in on their conversation, the bar up front is loud enough. 

“Have I ever did you wrong?” Gus asks, finishing the touches on the new IDs for them. 

Dick rolls his eyes, “Yes.” 

Gus coughs, “Well, you paid more than enough this time. You got nothing to worry about. Tell Peter that he still owes me money for the Calbaxian job though.” 

Dick forces a smile, “I will. I gotta go, thanks again.” Dick ducks out quickly, sticking to the shadows of the alleys as he makes his way back to the ship. God, he hopes Peter and the rest are okay. He knows they can withstand a little bit of torture, but the longer they are there….Dick just hopes, that’s all. He already sent the message along to Tivan, he’s just waiting for a time. 

He hates waiting. 

“Are they all okay?” 

Dick blinks, not even realizing he had made it to the ship yet. He steps in, closing the hold door. “Yeah, fine.” Dick walks to the front of the ship briskly, making sure they didn’t touch his bag. He lets out a little sigh of relief when he sees it. He picks it up so he can sit in the pilot seat and drops it back down on his lap. Dick lets his head fall back and he closes his eyes. 

“You okay?” Dick opens his eyes slightly to see Megan sitting in the seat next to him. 

He closes them again, suppressing a sigh. “Fine.” 

“I know you had to steal whatever in the bag to help save the Guardians and the League, but I know you probably don't feel good about it, so we can talk, if you want.” 

Dick snorts. Right, bad. “I’m actually okay, Megan. Just waiting for Tivan to let me know when I can come over.” 

“Aren’t we all going?” 

Dick opens his eyes fully at that, wondering if she’s joking. She’s not. “No, you’re not.” 

“Why not? You need backup-” 

Dick shakes his head hard. “No. I don’t. You’re all from a different dimension and know nothing about this place. You’ll stick out like a sore thumb.” 

“You’re from a different dimension.” Megan counters, sounding upset. 

Not really at this point. “He doesn’t know that. Besides, I don’t want any of you near him.” 

“Why?” 

Dick is fucking tired of all the questions. “He’s a collector. The Collector. Conner, Wally, you especially, he’ll want to collect you.” 

Megan sounds confused. “You can’t collect _a person_.” 

Dick doesn’t know how to respond to that so he just doesn’t. He doesn’t remember them being this naive. Maybe it’s not them, maybe he’s seen too much… He’s _definitely_ seen too much. 

“Well, what is it? The thing you stole.” Artemis pops her head in. 

“Mandalay Gem.” 

She rolls her eyes, “You say that like we should know.” 

“I don’t really know what it does.” Dick shrugs. “It was created by the Celestials so it’s probably not good.” 

“Why are we giving it to this Collector then?” Megan questions. 

Dick’s starting to feel cornered again. “Because I need information from him and he’ll need something in return. Besides, he won’t use it. He’ll just put it in a jar and never touch it again.” 

“You’ve dealt with him before?” 

“Yep.” Dick doesn’t want to talk about that. 

Megan senses this. “What are Celestials?” 

“You’re in one.” Megan and Artemis look startled. “Well, a dead one. Its head. No one really knows where Celestials came from. There’s not really any more.” Besides Ego, he’s never heard of another one. 

Artemis scrunches her nose. “Gross. Why are we in its head exactly?” 

“This is where The Collector lives. This place started out as a mining colony, but because there’s no rules or regulations, it’s a safe haven for outlaws.” 

“You just let those slaves loose in a place teeming with criminals?” 

Dick crosses his arms. “No, I know a guy who can create new identities for them while they hide from the Badoons.” 

“And you _trust_ him? _”_

Dick shrugs, “Eh. He’s usually good on his word. Well, there was that time when we were pulling a job on Terma and he bailed in the middle to make kissy faces with Danny, but I can’t really blame him for that-” 

Suddenly, Wally is in the cockpit. “Pulling a job? What do you mean pulling a job?” 

Dick pinches the bridge of his nose. This is going to be fan-fucking-tastic. “I mean, pulling a job. What do you think it means?” 

Wally ignores that it's a rhetorical question. “I think it means that you stealing from that planet wasn’t the first time you’ve done that.” 

He’s not going to lie to them. “Nope.” They all look at him like he’s killed their dogs again. What do they want him to say? He’s sorry? He’ll never do it again, stealing is wrong, blah blah blah? “You got a problem?” 

“Hell yeah, I got a problem!” Wally yells, his feature contorting with rage. “What the fuck is the matter with you?!”

Dick stands quickly, “What’s the matter with _you_? Why are you so worried about what I’m doing? It’s not like we know each other anymore or we’ll be in each other’s lives very long so why even bother?” 

Wally frowns, looking confused. “What do you mean?” 

“Oh, what, you’re suddenly cool with me being a sorta-ex criminal?” 

“No.” Wally scowls and then, after a long pause where it looks like he's debating if he wants to argue, continues, “What do you mean we won’t be in each other’s lives for much longer?” 

It’s Dick’s turn to be confused. He looks at the faces of all four of them, trying to figure out what’s happening. Oh. Oh no. Did they really think that he would be going back with them? That he could suddenly forget his life here and what they did? Holy shit they are fucking naive. They’re going to fight him on it and that’s not the fight they need to be having right now. 

Dick sets his face, “Why would you want me to? Apparently I’m an affront to nature because I like to steal shit. Doesn’t matter that at first I had to so I could fucking survive. Nooo because Wally’s code of conduct forbids it, I should have just-” 

“That’s your code! At least it was! Do you even have one anymore?!” Dick shrugs. His code now is: help people and _try_ not to kill anyone in the process. “Exactly! Who are you? Because you look like Dick Grayson, but you certainly don’t act like him!” 

Dick grinds his teeth, wondering why that stings a little. He’s still himself, he knows he is. It took him years to realize that. Years and a few talks with Gamora. He just...he had to change and he’s glad he did. He probably wouldn’t be alive if he didn’t. He knows he wouldn't be alive if he didn't. 

“I’m sorry that you all were expecting some optimistic 13 year old kid, but he doesn’t exist anymore and you need to understand that.” 

They all stare at him, still upset, but more so shocked. He resists the urge to roll his eyes. Naive. His holo computer beeps on his wrist and he looks down to see a response from Tivan. “Stay on the ship.” 

* * *

Peter's pacing his cell, waiting for the others to come back. They took them all to interrogate, but Peter is really good at playing dumb and he's apparently the first one back. He doesn't know how long they've been in here, but he knows that shit must be deep if Dick hasn't found them by now. 

Peter reaches for the bars. Maybe if he electrocutes himself bad enough they'll take him to his friends-

"The bars are electrified." 

Peter jumps at the voice, turning quickly. God, he fucking hates it when Dick does that. He's not surprised his former-father-but-not-really does it too. 

"I know." The whites of the mask narrow at him. "I was working on a plan." Bruce grunts like he doesn't believe him. "I was! Where's the other Leaguers?" 

"Still being questioned. Yours too, I presume." 

Peter sighs and lets himself slide down the back wall. "Yeah. I know I can play dumb well, but how are _you_ back first?" It seems like he's raising an eyebrow at him. "Nevermind, I don't wanna know." 

Peter looks over the black-clad hero, still wanting to hate him for all he's done to Dick. Right now though, he puts it on the back burner of his mind. "How good is your JV team?" 

"Don't let them ever hear you call them that." Did this man just joke? "They've run hundreds of successful missions." He didn't really answer him Peter notes. 

"Hm." Peter waits for him to ask about Nightwing. Bruce doesn't. "If you were wondering about Nightwing, he's solid. Honestly the best of us. We'll probably be out of here in less than a day." Peter stretches out on the floor. 

"I'm not worried." 

This makes Peter turn to look at him again. Why does that statement make him suspicious? "He's like my partner in crime. Well, literally my partner in crime. You got a partner?" Peter prods, looking away from him casually. 

"Yes." 

"Oh, yeah? Are they also the living embodiment of Oscar the Grouch?" He doesn't get a response. "What's their name?" 

There's a pause. "Robin." Okay, what the fuck? 

Peter bites the inside of his cheek. Is Bruce still clinging to the Dick of the past? After all this time? "You guys close in age like me and Nightwing? Well, he's really like sixteen years younger and holy shit, I just realized how old I am-" 

"He's fourteen." 

Peter's at a loss for words. He took in another kid and gave them the same name Dick used? The one he picked to honor his dead mom? He replaced him just like that? What the fuck is wrong with this guy? 

"Kinda young." Peter swallows, trying to hide his shaking fists. 

"Dick was eight." 

Peter's head whips over to look at Bruce and sees him studying Peter intently. Peter wants to pretend like he has no idea what he's talking about, ask him all surprised if he had a previous Robin. He doesn't though. 

"How?" He asks instead. 

"His name." Bruce says simply, not looking like a person who's just faced the bombshell that their missing kinda-son is alive. 

It's Peter's turn to narrow his eyes. "We were careful not to call him by his first name around you all." 

"You didn't need to." 

Jesus Christ, does he have to keep prodding this guy for answers? "I still don't-" 

"Back on our Earth, there's a hero named Superman. He's from a planet named Krypton and when Dick was young, he used to tell him their myths. There's a story about a Kryptonian hero named Nightwing." 

Peter processes that for a moment before he's mad again. "And what? You just weren't going to say anything to him? After all these years? After the way you all abandoned him-" 

"We didn't-" 

"Jesus Christ, Bruce! You move on like he's nothing, like he wasn't basically your son! What the hell is the matter with you?!" 

The mask that covers his face is getting pushed off and Peter is staring angrily into the murky blue eyes of the man he might hate _the most_ for the first time. "I recognized him immediately, but my colleagues didn't, not that I'm surprised. I saw that he recognized us, but when he didn't approach us straight away, I thought I'd give him time. I kept pushing back the timeline of the mission to give him a chance-" 

Peter crosses his arms. "What a crock of shit. You wanted to give him time? Like he hasn't already had seven-ish years to come to terms with the fact that you all gave up on him? I'll do whatever it is that Dick wants to do, but I know that one day it'll eat him alive, the question without an answer." 

Bruce scowls at him, "We didn't abandon him." 

"And how is he supposed to know that?" 

"If he wanted to know, he'd-" 

Peter cuts him off angrily. "When he looks at you all, he sees a bunch of people that didn't want him. Why the hell would he reveal himself?" Peter knows that Dick isn't going back, no matter what Gamora feared after his outburst. 

Bruce sets his jaw. "Why?" 

"Why what?" 

"Why was he taken?" 

He hasn't asked once if Dick is okay or what he's been doing all these years. He sounds like a man who just wants to solve a mystery. 

"Ask Dick yourself." Even if he _wanted_ to answer that himself, he couldn't. No one can. 

* * *

“Get back on the ship.” Dick demands, not looking at Artemis. 

“Nope.” Artemis says lightly. 

Dick stops, turning to look at her. “I mean it, Artemis-”

“I’m the only non-powered human on board. You need at least some backup.” 

Dick grits his teeth. She’s still so stubborn. “Whatever.” He sees Tivan’s new pink assistant approaching. “Just stay quiet.” 

At least she's smart. She says nothing when Pink Lady 3.0 talks in her semi-robotic voice and invites them inside. "Guardian Nightwing, I am here to take you to my Master." 

Artemis looks at the containers they pass with a sense of awe, her jaw dropping a little, like it isn't the creepiest shit. 

Peppa Pig starts introducing the facility, like he hasn't been here before. "We house the galaxy's largest collection of flora, relics, and species of all kinds." Do all these girls have the same training video? 

"Is that a dog?" Artemis whispers to him, staring at the astro-puppy. Dick hates that container the most, he wants to steal the dog so bad. 

"I present to you, Taneleer Tivan: The Collector." She bows with a flourish and scurries away as Tivan prepares his dramatic turn. 

"I don't have all day for your show, Tivan." Artemis jabs him in the ribs with her elbow, hard. "Place looks better since I was last here, not that that was exactly our fault." 

Tivan studies him hard for a moment, his posture rigid. "You somehow have the worst traits of both Lady Gamora _and_ Mr. Quill." Dick smiles widely at that, showing all of his teeth. "Very well. Do you have what we agreed upon?" 

Dick shrugs, "I might. You have your full collection?" 

Tivan's face twitches ever so slightly. "Spare one or two creatures, yes." 

"Last time we were here, I remember seeing a certain creature. Grey skin, no nose like Voldemort. Grey and gold armor." Recognition flits in his eyes. "You have a story about that?" 

Tivan glides over to a container across the way from the dog. Dick still wants to pet it. "The Chitauri. Cybernetically enhanced reptilian beings. Their society has a caste system and yet they are of one mind, a hive. Soldiers are controlled via mothership." But Dick saw Xandarian forces shoot down what looked like a Mothership. None of the soldiers were affected. "They have a sister race, the Outriders, but they are more mindless than the Chitauri." 

"What planet-" Dick starts to ask, but Tivan presses his lips together. Dick rolls his eyes and tosses him the bag. "What planet?" 

"They are not known of any planet." What- "However, there are a few beings who utilize their skill." 

"Who?" Dick's already dreading the answer. 

Tivan looks at him, unimpressed. "Well, Lady Gamora’s father for one." 

Dick's mouth goes dry. He's hoping to any god out there that he doesn't have to deal with that purple-worse-than-a-mob-boss-but-still-like-a-genocidal-mob-boss asshole. He really doesn't think it is because Thanos would have announced himself straight away, but when has the universe ever been nice to him?

"Not her dad." Dick mumbles. "Has anyone come to you looking for information?" Tivan raises an eyebrow. "Besides us." Dick continues, holding back a groan. 

Tivan shakes his head, but Dick has a feeling that he's lying. Dick narrows his eyes at him. "Fine, don't tell me. I'm taking the dog then." 

"Dog-?" Tivan looks both annoyed and confused before he sees Dick smashing the control panel. "You-" 

"We both know this mess could be bigger. _Way_ bigger. Why not just leave it as this?" The dog sits at his feet, driving his point in, and Tivan scowls at him. 

"And to think I wanted your carcass." Artemis jumps at this, her feet sliding back into a defense position. 

Dick rolls his eyes, "You would've been jilted then too. Just a human." 

Tivan presses his lips together. "Perhaps." Tivan reaches into the bag and sets the gem onto a platform. "Would you at least like to hear about-" 

"Nope." Dick taps Artemis's wrist before he walks straight out of there. The dog walks side by side with him, trotting almost happily. Oh god, why did he take the dog? He can't take care of them properly- 

"What was that?!" Artemis asks once they're outside. 

Dick runs a hand through his hair. "He wouldn't have told us any more. Not without another trade. We have enough for a start." 

"But if you've never even heard of the Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang things, what-" 

"I know someone who has. I just need to find her." Dick exhales. Fuck, finding Nebula is going to be so fucking- 

" _Before you go, Cosmo needs your help_." 

Dick blinks, turning around wildly to try and find the voice. Why would there be a Russian on Knowhere? Humans aren't common out here and there is no dialect he knows of that even comes close- 

The dog nips at his feet and Dick stares through his helmet for a moment before he crouches beside him. Dick slowly reaches out and sets his hand on top of the dog's soft head. "Was that you?" 

"Dick, why are you talking to a dog? That is a dog right? Not a shape-shifting lizard or something even freakier in this weird ass dimension-" 

" _That feels nice, but there is more important task. Cosmo needs your help. There is danger here. Great danger."_

Great. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! I've been wanting to re-rewrite this story for a long time and I hope you like it!


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